Military Steampunk

Master Avery decided he'd like a military Steampunk outfit.  A trip to the thrift store landed us a treasure trove of goodies to work with...


First up is a gorgeous cotton velvet ladies jacket in a deep burgandy red color: $1! It fits perfectly, but the puffed sleeves are too girly and the sleeve length is a smidgen short.  The plain black cotton hat is from Target: $12.

Here is the finished product.  I still need to add cuffs to the sleeves, but we were headed out to an event, so that's on the back burner for now.

For the hat, I clipped the tassels off of the gold braid trim I used on my Scarlett's Gone Steampunk dress to accent the brim. I also added a metal crest, small metal rivets, and metal buttons to either side of the trim.

The same trim is sewn to the jacket. I replaced the buttons with metal military style buttons, and added some to the end of the trim. The collar isn't as crisp as I'd like and I'm considering redoing it, but it was a quick makeover. The medals, compass, and belt move from outfit to outfit.

The epaulettes are made of a pair of shiny gold, 1980's era, plastic curtain tie backs that I spray painted black and highlighted with rub and buff. The fringe is from my stash, but it was too long, so I trimmed up a bit. The metal crest is the same as the one on the hat. The epaulettes are velcroed onto the jacket. I didn't want to ruin this nice vintage jacket with glue, so everything is sewn on.

The rest of the ensemble can be seen here. Thriftstore pants: $1, Clearanced boots: $15, and a lovely tasseled decorative dagger: $20.

Master Avery LOVES his military outfit.

My philosophy is that if I already have something in my stash, it counts as FREE! Considering that, this outfit cost $50. If I went out and bought the metal medallions, metal rivets, braid, buttons, belt, and medals today, it would probably add another $50 to the cost. I keep my eyes open for good deals on Steampunkable stuff all the time.  Snagging it here and there for pennies on the dollar which is good for my budget...and my marriage! Huzzah!